Prince Johnson, the African rebel warlord who infamously tortured Liberia's former president to death and later became a powerful senator, has died. He was 72.
Notorious for his brutality, Johnson was seen sipping beer while his forces sliced off President Samiel Doe's ear in a video that was broadcast to the world.
Johnson's forces captured, tortured, and executed Doe in September 1990, plunging Liberia into years of civil war that killed 250,000.
In December 1989, Johnson allied with rebel leader Charles Taylor to overthrow Doe, launching what became the First Liberian Civil War.
The war ended in 1997 with Taylor as president of Liberia. Johnson broke with Taylor during the war and fled to neighboring Nigeria, where Johnson remained for 12 years.
Johnson converted to Christianity and returned to Liberia after the Second Liberian Civil War, which culminated in Taylor going into exile.
Eventually, Taylor was convicted of crimes against humanity by the Sierra Leone Tribunal and sentenced to 50 years in prison, but Jonhson's post-war life followed a different course.
He became an influential politician in Liberia, winning election to the senate in 2006.
While accused of war crimes by the post-war Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Johnson never faced trial. He died at a local hospital in Paynesville, a suburb of the capital Monrovia.
President Joseph Boakai, an ally of Johnson, called him a "figure who played a pivotal role in Liberia's complex historical evolution and contributed to national discourse through his service in the Senate."
In 2011, Johnson ran for the presidency and placed third. He had insisted he was a changed man, but he defended his actions during the civil war as a justified response to Doe's repression.
Doe had ruled Liberia with an iron fist and was known for showing favoritism towards his tribe, the Krahns.
"I cannot be sued. I have done nothing criminal... I fought to defend my country, my people who were led to the slaughterhouse, as if they were chickens and goats, by the Doe regime," Johnson said in 2011.
"There are circumstances that change people, that regenerate them... I have changed, my action proves it. See the enormous support I have in the country."
In 2021, the Biden administration sanctioned Johnson for his role in an alleged multi-million dollar pay-to-play scheme, as well as selling votes for money.
